This is a great flashback to 1941 ITALY story that I thought was so very uniquely told and photographed. I highly recommend it. Watching Monica Bellucci as "Malena" is worthy of your time (Italian elegance). The ending may not be the best--but keep in mind that it's a slice of what may be a longer, more in-depth story.
he film is set in Sicily in 1940 during World War II just as Italy enters the war. Malena's husband, Nino Scordia, who left to join the military is presumed dead. Malena tries to cope with her loss, as the town she has moved to tries to deal with this beautiful woman who gets the attention of all the local men, including the 12-year-old Renato. However, in spite of the gossip, she continues to be faithful to her husband. Renato becomes obsessed with Malena and starts fantasizing about her.
Renato continues to watch as she suffers from grief. Malena is shunned by the townspeople who begin to believe the worst about her, simply because of her beauty.
Film critic Roger Ebert compared the film to Federico Fellini's work, writing, "Fellini's films often involve adolescents inflamed by women who embody their carnal desires (e.g. Amarcord and 8½). But Fellini sees the humor that underlies sexual obsession, except (usually but not always) in the eyes of the participants. Malena is a simpler story, in which a young man grows up transfixed by a woman and essentially marries himself to the idea of her. It doesn't help that the movie's action grows steadily gloomier, leading to a public humiliation that seems wildly out of scale with what has gone before and to an ending that is intended to move us much more deeply, alas, than it can."
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